A few days ago we celebrated my wife's 80th birthday. We had talked frequently about the difference that medical people make when talking about someone "in their seventies" versus someone who is considered "old, becasue they are in their eighties. I wrote this on her birthday and we thought it would be worth sharing with a larger readership.
REMEMBERING YOUR 80TH
Mary,
Yesterday you were young,
Just in your 70s!
Today, you are old—
You have reached that
Definitive age when you’re bodily functions
No longer work as well as the day before.
That age is 80
At least so we are told
By the medical experts around the globe.
As you contemplate this new age
Of being an octogenarian,
And still as energetic as the day before
Mary,
I am so glad that several years ago,
When you were still so young
You said yes to a man’s request
So much older than you were at the time.
Mary,
Now you are also an octogenarian
You have managed to live so joyously
Your spirit is so much younger and more energetic
Than your 80 years that show on the calendar.
Enjoy each day of this new decade
Make each day one of remembrance
Forget those doctors who claim that
Now you are old—this does not show in you